Short Takes

At first, 15-year-old David Gokar of Brooklyn and his parents were hesitant about the prospect of him spending the next three years at a high school in Israel.
But after attending a presentation that stressed the high caliber of the education (as well as the 98 percent graduation rate among the 9,000 Jewish teens from 32 countries who had enrolled since the program started 12 years ago) David signed up and became one of the first six North Americans admitted to the Elite Academy program.

Marking the fourth anniversary of the shooting of Gideon Busch, family and friends gathered at the site in Borough Park to recite poems and prayers, while politicians called for a new investigation of the incident.
Busch was gunned down by police officers who said he charged at them with a hammer after they answered a disturbance call. Witnesses said Busch posed no threat to the cops, and a forensic expert is expected to concur in a civil trial this fall.

Islamic anti-Semitism is increasing. Roman Catholic leaders are eerily silent about Mel Gibson's filmed Passion play and its negative portrayal of Jews. Southern Baptists are reaffirming their call to convert Jews.
Stepping into this current state of interfaith affairs comes David Elcott, who this week assumes the post of U.S. director of interreligious affairs for the American Jewish Committee.
But Elcott, a 54-year-old California native who has spent most of his career in Jewish communal work, says he's excited to assume the post, which has been vacant for a year.

Harvard University is declining to say when it will make a decision about keeping a controversial $2.5 million gift to fund its first chair in Islamic religious studies at the divinity school. This follows media reports that an Arabic research center accused of promoting anti-Semitism and anti-Americanism was shut down recently by United Arab Emirates President Sheik Zayed bin Sultan al Nahyan, who is funding the Harvard chair.

Preppy Izod clothing (those cotton polo shirts and windbreakers with the open-mouthed alligator logo) can now be found far from the tony Lacoste boutiques that cater to country-club crowds. The label is available downtown at Michael K., the new electronically enhanced, 22,000-square-foot urban-outerwear emporium on Broadway near Spring Street, that opened last weekend.

Mel Gibson and his Icon Productions for weeks have been requiring viewers of his controversial film "The Passion" to sign a confidentiality agreement barring them from talking about the still-unfinished product.
That hasn't stopped the select group (mostly supportive Evangelicals, conservative Catholics and media personalities) from praising the film about the suffering and death of Jesus and revealing details in newspapers and on radio, television and the Internet.